Cracked Stone
by SparkyNZ
Summary: As the building collapses, all Zexion can think is "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you... You shouldn't have trusted me for this..."


**Disclaimer:**Seriously, has anyone EVER written that they own Kingdom Hearts here? No? You've got the idea, then.

**Pairings:** Zemyx. That's pretty much it. Although Naminé got a bit out of hand a couple of times...

**Warning:** Pathetically angsty Zexion, pathetically in love Zexion, band instruments, a fire and the library, steel bookshelves, boy/boy pairing. Singular. No likie no readie.

**Seka would like you to note:** R&R please, guys.

* * *

Zexion's IPod had died.

Normally this would not be a problem, but he had a Music composition assessment on the little device and he was already late with the work, after begging for more time while he got the harmony line right. Finally, late on the last night of the extension, it had been perfect, but he couldn't find his IPod charge cable and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Roxas?" the bluenette asked his older brother. "What do you do when your IPod's died and you need to take it in for a Music assessment?"

"I don't know," Roxas frowned in thought as he leant on his younger brother's doorframe. "What do you do when your IPod's died and you have to take it in for a Music assessment?"

Zexion turned and looked exasperatedly at Roxas. "It wasn't a joke, Roxas. It was a question."

"Oh." Roxas attempted to look like he knew that all along, running his hand through his blonde spikes. "Well, how about you take the music into school and get one of the other people in your class to play the other line with you?"

"Because it's a duet for flute and oboe, it's really hard and there's only one good oboist in the school? The same reasons I didn't write out the score for it so I could play it with someone else?"

"Oh, well, if you can't play it, then I guess you're screwed!" Roxas taunted, turning away from the door into the rest of the house. "How many pancakes do you want?"

"Ah, no." Zexion followed his brother into the kitchen, exasperated. "I didn't say I couldn't play it, just no-one could learn a new piece in half an hour! And I'll have three, please."

Roxas busied himself with a frying pan and some flour, making sure he coated himself, the bench top and the floor while he was mixing. "You said yourself he was better at sight-reading than you were! And you sight-read that piece. How hard can it be?"

"Roxas?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up, Roxas."

"Ooh, don't you hate it when I talk sense?" the younger boy retorted cheerily, sloshing the first pancake into the pan. He frowned, and turned it down slightly. "There's no maple syrup, so you'll have to make do with something else."

"WHAT!"

Zexion turned the kitchen upside down in his hunt to prove his brother wrong. Unfortunately for his stomach and his ego, the blonde was right. And there was no way he could eat pancakes without maple syrup.

"Fine. I'll go without pancakes. And I'm NOT asking Demyx. There is no way you'll ever find me talking to him. Especially with all the crowds of people following him around every day," Zexion shuddered. "No, I'll just tell my teacher I need more time."

"And that's lying," Roxas replied calmly. "Just ask him! You have band practice with him this morning, right? Just ask if you can have a word with him, and talk to him in private. There's nothing to it!"

"Oh, sure," Zexion grumbled. "_Nothing_ at _all_ to worry about."

* * *

"Hey, Zexion!"

The bluenette turned, surprised, when he heard his name being called. Demyx was bearing down on him, a large smile pasted on his face.

"Ha! Found you!' the mohulleted blonde burbled. "Y'know, I was so worried I wouldn't see you at practice this morning, you haven't been turning up recently, are you sick? I guess not, because you're at school this morning. Anyway, what I was trying to find you about was that I ran into Roxas just before, and he said you had something to ask me." He brought this ramble to an end, and stood, waiting for an answer.

Zexion silently cursed his older brother, and formed a reply. He could feel the blush rising already. Oh God, this was so embarrassing!

"I... yeah. Well, you see, this morning my IPod, infernal device, decided to pack up and I couldn't find my charging cable, and you know my Music assessment piece is due this morning, and I was kinda wondering..." Oh, damn! The grammar was going again, and he could _not_ stop this blush. If this were any other person he would be interested, even amused, at the changes brought on by the presence of another person, the subject of one's embarrassment, but he wasn't. He was the one blushing like a fool in the middle of a corridor, staring at his feet, unable to speak for embarrassment. Goddamn mouth, say something!

"You were wondering..." Demyx prompted.

"Would you... play it - with me? I understand if you don't want to," he interrupted the blonde's answer. "I mean, who would want to play a piece with me," he finished, very quietly, still staring at his feet.

"Damn, Zexion, would you let me get a word in?" Demyx teased gently. Zexion never said anything at school unless directly asked or if he had to ask something. "Of course I'll play your piece with you. If it's yours, it must be good, and I'm guessing it's a flute-oboe duet, otherwise why would you be asking me! Do you have a copy I can look at?"

"Oh! Um..." Zexion fumbled in his bag, completely taken aback. This was not what he had expected. "Here." He thrust a few sheets at the taller boy, who grinned, leafing through the music.

"Yep, you were right to ask me. I can't see any of the juniors playing this. Okay, I'll go through it, and we'll play it next lesson. See ya round!"

The blonde walked off, engrossed in the music. Zexion stood where he was for a minute, not believing what his brain was telling him had just happened. Slowly he unstuck. For that, he grinned, he might just go to band.

* * *

Band was not as awkward as he had expected it to be, having missed for several weeks. Nobody remarked upon his absence. But then again, hardly anyone remarked on his presence, so maybe no-one ever noticed if he was there or not. He would not be surprised to find he was still getting marked as present even when he wasn't there.

The only person who noticed his presence was Naminé, the second flute.

"Hey Zexion," she greeted him with a soft smile. "It's great you're back, the melody needs you."

"Yes, I'm very sorry I wasn't present for the past weeks," he replied quietly. "I haven't been able to attend."

Naminé smiled again, not pressing the matter. For that, Zexion was grateful. He didn't want to have to make up an awkward lie as to why he hadn't been there; life was tricky enough as it was.

As the band was packing up, chattering excitedly about their new piece, Demyx appeared at Zexion's elbow, causing the bluenette to jump.

"Don't do that to me!" he gasped. "That made me jump!"

"Oops, sorry," Demyx smiled sheepishly. "There was just something I wanted to ask you about this piece. It was bar 47, I think-"

The fire alarms drowned out anything he said next. The students quickly walked outside for the fire drill. Just as Demyx was crossing the door into the corridor, he paused and sniffed the air. "Why can I smell smoke?"

Zexion was beginning to become a bit nervous. He could smell smoke too. "Maybe it's a real fire," he remarked quietly. "We'd best get out of here before we're trapped."

Demyx nodded and led the way into the deserted corridor.

There was a huge crash, and screams from outside. A huge gout of flame roared through the ceiling, setting the corridor ahead of the boys alight. The fire burned white-hot at its heart, and great waves of heat wafted through the corridor, causing them to break a sweat.

"Oh, crap," Demyx muttered. "Not that way, then."

"Demyx," Zexion replied hesitantly. The blonde turned to face the bluenette. "There's no other way out of this corridor. No emergency exits, no windows, or anything."

"How do you know?" Demyx replied, voice climbing higher into hysteria. Zexion saw the fear and panic begin in his eyes, and wished more than anything he could stop the fire to see that fear extinguished...

"The library's just over there," he replied. "There's no way out until you get past that door." He pointed past the roaring fire which was steadily creeping closer. "C'mon, the library's made of stone. The only thing to worry about in there is the books."

He grabbed Demyx's hand, unaware of what he was doing, being overwhelmed by a desire to see the blonde to safety, to make sure he lived, even if Zexion died trying...

He shook his head fiercely, trying to rid himself of those thoughts. The library doors were just ahead. Remembering his primary school training, he touched the door to check for fire behind it. The stone door was cool, no trace of the burning heat of the fire behind them. He inched the door open, relieved to find there was no fire among the books.

He shut the door again, and turned to Demyx, who was looking extremely scared.

"When I open this door, we have to race through, otherwise we'll give the fire more oxygen and it'll burn for longer," he said quietly. Demyx nodded and swallowed nervously.

"Can we do it quickly? Because that fire's getting awful close," he whispered.

Zexion's heart was aching for the younger boy, but he lacked the words to describe it properly. He settled on nodding and turning for the door. He took a deep breath, opened the door and hurled himself through, slamming the door behind the blonde musician as he tumbled through, hot on the bluenette's heels.

Zexion gave a sigh of relief. "One more thing I have to do before we can relax. I have to check the propane heating tanks on the back wall. If they explode, we're dead."

He crossed the library floor, motioning the blonde to follow him. He checked the temperature gauge, and frowned. It was a little high. He adjusted the cooling systems to compensate just as there was a huge explosion. The back wall flew out into the open air, crashing one floor below. There was a moment of silence as the building quivered, which Zexion used to grab Demyx's hand and dive behind a bookshelf, and then the whole back end of the library collapsed, falling in slow-motion in pursuit of the back wall. Zexion hurriedly turned, and grabbed the bookshelf they were hiding behind.

"Demyx! Pull that one behind us over!" The blonde hurriedly did what Zexion asked and the bookshelves met, showering books on the pair as a chunk of stone hit the point of the leaning bookshelves and crushed them downwards, stopping a metre above their heads. There was a horrible grinding sound and the bottom dropped out of their world.

The last thing Zexion could remember before he hit his head on the metal bookshelf behind him was Demyx's terrified face.

_I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you properly... You shouldn't have trusted me for this..._

* * *

Naminé stood, open-mouthed, as the library collapsed. The second floor fell into the first, meeting the ground with an almighty crash. The huge ceiling blocks came crashing down around the bookshelves, crushing hundreds of thousands of books as they did. The fire roared on through the open-ended passage, fuelled on by the air as it strove to reach greater heights. There was another crash as the Art section fell apart, accompanied with the screams of girls and boys - Naminé gulped - there was a group that had been unable to get out of the Art block and were sheltering in one of the classrooms. Naminé prayed it wasn't the one which collapsed, three stories up.

The blonde girl turned to the rest of the band members, some still clutching their instruments and music folders. With a gasp, she realised not everyone was there.

"Mr Xenahort! Mr Xenahort!" she screamed, attempting to get the attention of their headmaster. "Mr Xenahort!" The silver-haired man finally turned, locating the sound of his name and frowning at the petite girl before him.

"Yes young lady? I'm very busy now, we have to see if the Art students are all right-"

"Mr Xenahort, Demyx and Zexion were still in the Music block when it collapsed. Zexion would probably have run to the library! We have to find them quickly!"

The silver-haired man inhaled sharply. "I see. And your name is?"

"Naminé Miyazaki. I'm in the band."

He nodded, recognising the name. "All right, Naminé. Go back to your teacher in charge. I'll let the rescue people know that there were people in that section, possibly in the library when it collapsed."

Naminé relaxed slightly, glad that something was happening. Zexion was a damn good first flute.

* * *

Zexion swam slowly towards the light. Well, at least to the lighter part. It was still damn dark for a light place. Never mind the philosophy, his head was too sore. Funny that. And why did he go to sleep in such a funny place? He was on his knees, leaning back against something hard. It was - he ran his finger along it - smooth metal. Rather like a bookshelf, actually.

He stretched, and his hand hit something. He heard his knuckles crack. Shaking his hand to get the feeling out, he ran his hand along the ceiling, a metre above and sloping backwards. Smooth metal, with small screws at the edges. Beyond that, cool stone in a rougher pattern, dropping down to the ground, which was softly carpeted. Ahead was the same smooth metal, running up to meet the other length, a metre and a half above his head, but with many large dimples in the surface, as if something heavy had come down on it.

There was a gasp, and Zexion frowned. Who else was here?

"Zexion?"

That was Demyx, wasn't it? Funny. Oh, wait-

He suddenly remembered where he was: trapped inside a collapsed building, tented below two bookshelves. With Demyx, of all people.

"Oh, crap. We're stuck, aren't we?"

He had to answer! There was a note of terror in Demyx's voice; he ached to stop that, to soothe him, to tell him everything was going to be all right-

"Uh... yeah. We're stuck. Do you remember what happened?"

_Not_ a good job of comfort, but there was really nothing to comfort with, when you thought about it. Zexion didn't even know if anyone had noticed they weren't with the group of students that came from the Music block.

"Yeah... There was a fire, right? And the wall blew out... and the ceiling collapsed... Is that right?"

"As far as I know. And now we're stuck."

He heard Demyx take a shuddering breath, and moved instinctively beside him. The bookcase groaned. He froze.

"Oh, no..."

"What? What is it, Zexion?"

"I think... if I move, the bookcase will fall inwards. Test your side, slowly."

Demyx probably moved; it was too dark to see anything properly. They must really be buried. At least, there were no more warning groans from the bookcase.

"I'll come and sit with you so you aren't holding it all up on your own."

Zexion's breath caught in his throat; could he stand Demyx being so close?

"Actually, I'm fine for a bit; can you find out how big this space is?"

He heard the crunch of gravelly rock as Demyx felt out the dimensions of the little hollow.

"It's about a metre and a half tall, and about two metres long - hang on a minute." There was a brushing sound, like someone carefully testing to see how far a wall went.

"It looks like there's another hollow beside us, but it's a tight squeeze; there's only about half a metre gap."

"Uh, I wouldn't go through there," Zexion stumbled over his words in his haste to stop Demyx. It wasn't safe! The roof could collapse and kill him! "It's, uh, not safe."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be careful," came Demyx's voice. In his attempt to sound cheerful, he only made the fear in his voice stand out even more.

Zexion heard a scraping sound, and winced as he imagined sharp chunks of rock gouging deep red scratches down pale skin...

'Uhh... It's another hollow, a bit like ours, but it's taller... and the walls aren't bookshelves, it's just stone. Hey! I've found something!"

Zexion shifted uncomfortably against the hard metal shelf. His back had begun a low, dull protest as his muscles awakened. "What have you found? Something interesting?"

"Yeah, I got a couple of pillows from the reading area! And... Oh, it's a drinkbottle! And it's full - I guess it must be the librarian's. Okay, I'm coming back now."

Zexion heard the scraping sounds getting closer, and saw the vague shape of Demyx squeeze through the open hole. Time in the darkness had adjusted his eyes to use the minute amount of light filtering through the rocks.

Demyx turned and pulled the two light shapes behind him through the hole. "Here," he said, thrusting a cushion at Zexion. "Put that against the wall, it'll make it easier on your back."

The bluenette gratefully slid the cushion between his back and the bookshelf. Demyx caught his wince in the twilight as his back muscles screamed into use and moved towards him. "If your back hurts too much I can hold it for a while."

"No, I'll be all right now I have a cushion," Zexion hurried to reassure the blonde.

"Well, at least have a drink."

Zexion sighed theatrically and accepted the water, taking a mouthful. He reluctantly handed the bottle back, murmuring, "We should save it. We don't know how long we'll be here for."

The blonde nodded, his hair a dirty white in the gloom. "I guesso." He stifled a yawn. "Man, I'm tired."

"Sleep," Zexion recommended. God, that sounded stupid. "Take the pillow. Do you need this one?" He was already pulling his pillow from behind his back, ignoring the blonde's protests, and made him lie down and take a nap. Soon Demyx was snoring softly.

Zexion shifted uncomfortably in his place. There was going to be nothing to do for a while.

* * *

Naminé looked around. Most of the students were still milling around, closely supervised by a cluster of teachers. A lot of the younger students were running around, trying, in a panic, to find out what was going on. She and a few of her friends had stuck around the ruins of the music block, well away from the rescue crew, along with a lot of Demyx's fan club.

"I hope they're okay!" Kairi squeaked excitedly. "This is so like a movie it's, like, not funny!"

Olette put in, "We don't know yet. All we know is that Zexion's cool when he's under pressure. Remember that time last year when that gunman got all the teachers in one room and Zexion managed to find the karate club and get them out? The police got so pissed off with him because he could have got everyone killed, but his tactics were perfect!"

Naminé nodded thoughtfully. "He could have got behind a bookcase when the tanks blew out... But when the building collapsed, the stone would have fallen on them."

Kairi gasped. "I hope they aren't..." she paused for dramatic effect, "dead! What would his fan club say?"

Several members of the aforementioned club glared evilly at Kairi. She just poked her tongue out and giggled.

"You're so juvenile, Kairi!" Olette remonstrated, but she was smiling.

"So, why are we actually here?" Kairi turned to Naminé.

Naminé jumped. "Um... because we... care? I don't know, I just stayed and you didn't leave."

"Oh." Kairi paused, as if marshalling thought from a long way away. "Let's go then! This is boring!"

Naminé sighed. "You can go if you want. I'm staying. I want to know if Zexion and Demyx are going to be okay."

Olette gave her a shrewd look. Naminé stressed hurriedly, "I just want to make sure they're going to be okay. I can't play the first flute pieces yet."

"Fine." But Olette's expression clearly stated she wanted to have a talk with the blonde girl the minute they were alone.

* * *

"Zexion?"

Demyx was awake, it seemed. "Yes, I'm still here."

"Oh. Good." The blonde sounded relieved, but only a little bit. "Are you sure you don't want me to hold the wall? It has to be hurting you by now."

"Not much," Zexion lied. It was the truth, in a way. It didn't hurt so much as ache, pound, scream and a whole other ream of adjectives.

"You're lying. I'm gonna give you a hand there." A pillow was shoved into his face, and Zexion peeled himself away from the wall, gasping slightly. It felt like his back muscles had atrophied.

Zexion felt Demyx settle in beside him, and the weight of the bookshelf lessened as Demyx took some of the strain.

They sat in silence for a while, before Zexion asked, "Are you going to be able to hold the wall up on your own? I want to go through that hole and see if there's another way out."

Demyx nodded. "Yeah, I should be fine."

"Okay." Zexion pulled cautiously away from the wall, wincing as his back screamed into life. The wall held, and he inched his way over to the black hole. Cool air drifted through the gap, and it was slightly darker on the other side. The blunette got down on his stomach and inched through the gap, wincing again and again when the rocks scraped his already heavily abused back.

The next hollow was larger, as Demyx had said, and Zexion found the floor was littered with books, their spines bent every which way. Zexion frowned at this treatment, and unconsciously began to tidy the books up.

A faint rumbling began on the edge of hearing. There was a faint scrape of rock on rock, getting steadily louder. It sounded as if the rescue had begun.

Zexion felt around the walls, feeling jagged stone everywhere his fingers felt. In the dim light he spotted another hole, slightly larger this time. He smiled slightly. Maybe this was all interconnected, all the little hollows formed by the bookshelves and lucky chance joining up to each other.

The rumbling jumped into a roar, and the ceiling began to shake. A few small chunks of rock fell from the ceiling, hitting the stone floor with a crash.

"Uh, Demyx? I think the ceiling's about to collapse. I'd give it another minute. How's yours?"

There was a pause, and he heard Demyx's voice, "Looks fine. You should come back through before it collapses. Hurry!"

Zexion turned to re-enter the hole, and the ceiling groaned ominously.

"Yeah, Zexion, right now would be good."

The bluenette began his squeeze back through and screamed as the ceiling finally caved in and rocks crashed down around him. He faded into inky blackness that threatened to swallow him up.

* * *

The rescue crew had stopped their digging abruptly, and there was panic on the site as rocks were hoisted out of the way as fast as humanly possible. The students remaining on the school grounds perked up, looking towards the activity.

A shout went up, and Demyx, looking very battered and dirty, was helped from the wreckage. He cried out and covered his eyes with his sleeve, blinking furiously. Naminé heard him repeating, over and over again, "Zexion. You have to find Zexion."

Another shout went up, and Demyx, uncovering his eyes at last, rushed to the source of the excitement. He cried out again as a limp shape was gently raised up from the wreckage.

"Oh, Zexion..." he trailed off, tears streaming down his cheeks, feeling the salt sting the many cuts and scrapes littering his face.

The bluenette's eyes fluttered open when he heard his name. He smiled weakly. Before the paramedics could whisk him off to the nearby ambulance, he whispered, so quietly Demyx really had to listen to understand, "I swore I would protect you..."

As he was helped into the ambulance, Demyx sat heavily on one of the stretchers. Tears still lined his face, but this time they were tears of happiness.


End file.
